anti-terrorism

The apparently random killings of two Canadian Forces personnel, October 20 near Montreal and October 22 in Ottawa, have served, not surprisingly as great mechanisms for reactionary political opportunism. The ruling Conservative Party of Canada, and allied pundits in the corporate media, wasted no time in using the Ottawa shooting in particular as an opportunity to ratchet up social phobias and fear politics, focused once again on that malleable and opportune figure of “the terrorist/terrorism” as means to advance the repressive agendas that are always central to their political projects.

The criminalization of dissent has been a
common feature of neo-liberal governance in the
current period of capitalist globalization. It has
accompanied various structural adjustment and
free trade policies as the required force to impose
such programs on unwilling publics. Police
violence has been a constant feature of
alternative globalization demonstrations.
Examples of escalating state attacks on
opponents of global capital include tear gas
attacks; use of rubber bullets and concussion
grenades; illegal searches and seizures;
surveillance and beatings of arrestees; and, most